MONTE CARLO, April 21 (Reuters) - Novak Djokovic ended Rafael Nadal's eight-year reign at theMonte Carlo Masters with a clinical 6-2 7-6 victory in the final on Sunday. Nadal, the only player to win a tournament eight times in a row, had enjoyed a 46-match winning streak at the claycourt Masters event before world number one Djokovic prevailed to claim his first title in the principality. The Serbian, who lost to Nadal in Monte Carlo in 2009 and last year, celebrated his 14th Masters crown and became the first player to defeat Nadal in three different finals on clay, having beaten him in Madrid and Rome in 2011.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Action Congress of Nigeria and the Congress for Progressive Change said on Sunday that the United States was right in its reports that corruption had worsened under the Goodluck Jonathan administration. They said in separate reactions by their national publicity secretaries, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Rotimi Fashakin respectively that the indictment did not come to them as a surprise to them. But to the Peoples Democratic Party, the two main opposition parties have no reason to trumpet the indictment since, according to it, it was an insult on Nigeria and its citizens.
Updated 6 Years ago

Luis Suárez has apologised to Branislav Ivanovic after biting the Chelsea defender during Liverpool's 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. Suárez used his Twitter account to say sorry for the incident, which came before the striker scored a dramatic equaliser seven minutes into stoppage time. "I'm sad for what happened this afternoon, I apologize Ivanovic and all football world for my inexcusable behaviour. I'm so sorry about it!!" Suarez wrote.
Updated 6 Years ago

Nigeria’s representatives in this year’s CAF Champions League, Enugu Rangers, were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Recreativo Libolo of Angola in a third round tie at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu Sunday. The home draw now puts the Flying Antelopes in tough position ahead of the second leg in a fortnight. Rangers deserved to win as they attacked their opponents from the blast of the first whistle, but Landu in goal for the Angolans proved his class as he stood between Rangers and goal.
Updated 6 Years ago

One of Nigeria’s finest literary exports, Kole Omotosho has demonstrated his unwavering commitment to social change at an evening of conversations with art enthusiasts and the public in commemoration of his 70th birthday last Wednesday at Jazzhole, Ikoyi. The distinguished professor took a grim look at the social reality in Nigeria which formed the basis of his relocation outside the Nigerian shores. In his view, the Nigerian situation can be said to be that of ‘dislocation’ and the alternative was to relocate. That in itself was not an easy decision for the writer.
Updated 6 Years ago

A media watchdog, Network for Responsible Communication (NRC), Sunday demanded the immediate resignation of the Chairman of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Mr. Lolu Akinwunmi, over conflict of interest. The group made the call for Akinwunmi’s resignation taking cognisance of the ongoing altercation between local and international advertising agencies in the country, which it said, had taken a new turn.
Updated 6 Years ago

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) said its profit before tax grew by 16.85 per cent in the first quarter of 2013, to N28.49 billion, from the N24.38 billion realised in the comparable period of 2012. GTBank’s results also showed that its gross earnings climbed by 20.83 per cent to N63.57 billion in the period under review, as against the N52.62 billion it was in the first quarter of 2012. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio was also low at 2.8 per cent, just as it reported shareholders’ funds of N307.95 billion for the period.
Updated 6 Years ago

The World Bank has urged the Federal Government to establish a cash transfer programme, designed to channel monies that would have gone into subsidising fuel, to the poor that constitute majority of the population. The bank's Chief Economist for Africa, Mr. Chanta Devarajan, who gave this advice during the roundtable discussion of chief economists council at the 2013 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank in Washington DC, US, lamented that 60 per cent of the $30 billion that Nigeria realised from oil went to the few rich while the remaining 40 per cent are left for the majority poor to scramble for.
Updated 6 Years ago

In order to douse the tension currently brewing in Akwa Ibom State, the state government at the weekend explained that its decision to borrow the sum of N80 billion from a foreign bank, London Standard Chartered Bank International, was not an indication that the state was broke. It said rather such approval from the international financial community was an endorsement of financial prudence and transparency of the state.
Updated 6 Years ago

Former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 general election, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), and National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Tinubu, a few days ago, may have held a private meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.
Updated 6 Years ago